Japan, 1918–1939

Thanks to the Meiji reforms of the late 19th century, Japan was the only large Asian state with developed industry and armed forces that had not become a colony. During the First World War it expanded exports and industry, and in the 1920s large concerns (Mitsubishi, Sumitomo) came to dominate the economy; in 1925 universal male suffrage was introduced and party parliamentary politics strengthened. But the great earthquake of 1923 and the world economic crisis of 1929–1933 struck the economy, with severe hardship especially in the countryside, which increased the influence of the military and extreme nationalist groups. In the 1930s there were political assassinations and attempted coups (15 May 1932, 26 February 1936), governments became subordinate to the military and control over society grew. In foreign policy Japan occupied Manchuria in September 1931, set up the puppet state of Manchukuo in March 1932, left the League of Nations in 1933, signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Germany in November 1936 (Italy joined in 1937) and from July 1937 began a full-scale war against China. In 1938–1939 there were border battles with the USSR at Lake Khasan and Khalkhin Gol, in which Japan was defeated; in April 1941 a neutrality pact was signed with the USSR.